We Put Chakra Balancing To The Test With Holistic Health Therapist, Tony Lawless

I’ll admit it, I’m a big alternative medicine hippie. Kinesiology, acupuncture, osteopathy, homeopathy, you name it, I’ve tried it, and nine times out of ten, I’ve loved it. I even have a t-shirt that says, ‘arnica before analgesics’, in organic Fairtrade cotton (natch). Okay, I’m kidding about the slogan, but if such an item existed I’d wear it, with perennial pride.

Chakra balancing, although on my beatnik radar, never struck me as something that needed attention. Well, that is until I was researching a feature for STELLAR’s July issue. The more I learned and listened to the energy experts, the more I could feel my third eye burning a hole in my forehead.

I needed a chakra audit, on the double.

Open sesame

A couple of days later I’m lying on a treatment bed with a man’s hands hovering three inches over my base point. “This is where I start my scan of the body,” says that man, who happens to be holistic health therapist, Tony Lawless. “I’ll be able to feel what’s going on in a lot of areas, I kind of get it represented in my own body. I’m assessing it but once I acknowledge it, I release it and it doesn’t effect me,” he reassures.

Know your chakras: here’s what’s what.

To get to this point, Tony has determined, by use of a pendulum (a silver chain with what looks like a rose gold quartz pendant), that my root chakra is open, my sacral and solar plexus are blocked and the remaining four; heart, throat, third eye and crown are on complete lock-down. He can tell because the pendulum didn’t move when he held it over those parts of my body.

See, I knew that third eye was iffy. Tony explains that different things block our chakras. “Emotional issues, food; they can all corrupt our energy levels. For example, if someone was in a negative relationship, their heart chakra could shut down to protect them.”

Back to the root, and to be fair I can feel an energy tingle in my thighs and my stomach grumbles incessantly. I’m told the right side of my pelvis is tilted slightly forward, which could be due to the ergonomics at my desk, or, I muse, “maybe it’s because I had surgery to remove an ovarian cyst a few years ago, could that twist things in there?”

“Sure,” agrees Tony, “the scar tissue could be causing a block. We’ve got cellular memory, so although we’re knocked out for surgery and don’t feel the pain, our cells remember.”

Electric dreams

As he moves his hands over the sacral and solar plexus chakras, my head begins to hurt. Not the usual one-sided ache or a pain behind my eyes, it feels like a tightening all over. I’m not bowled over by discomfort, it’s perfectly manageable, and in a few minutes it completely disappears. According to Tony this is completely normal. “Energy is starting to move up the spine, dissolving the blocks and releasing the chakras,” he explains.

After that it’s plain sailing. I shut up, as I’ve been talking non-stop since we started, and enjoy a rest. A while later (the appointment takes about an hour), the pendulum reappears for re-testing. Unlike last time, it turns effortlessly in a clockwise direction over each previously bunged up chakra. It’s pretty hilar; I feel the same, maybe a little more chilled, but I’m positive about the experience.

Before I leave, Tony does some craniosacral therapy on my right shoulder (this came up during my base chakra alignment), which to be fair is a welcome relief as I do get tissue build up in that area. Craniosacral therapy is a light touch manipulation, a more manual approach to healing – it’s known to be quite effective, especially in babies and animals.

Happy finish

The verdict? I drove home calm and happy – the weather possibly had something to do with it too. What I didn’t expect was the reaction I’d illicit from strangers. Usually grumpy drivers let me out at crossroads, store assistants (well, one) searched the supermarket high and low for dried mango (I’m addicted), and the phone banking person didn’t chastise me when I told her I forgot to pay my Visa bill – everyone was so nice.

Was it because I was extra friendly? Were my chakras burning brighter? In a lovely turn of events, I had the soundest sleep. The next morning, I hopped out of bed, minus the neck and shoulder creak, got dressed and legged it to the DART.

I made it to the platform just as the train was about to move off, and guess what happened? It stopped and the doors opened! Magic? It reminded of something Tony said. “There’s a way we can have a good day every day, don’t just leave it to chance, do something to make sure that happens.”

Could chakras be the key?

A one hour appointment with Tony costs €60.

• chakra balance
• chakras
• craniosacral therapy
• health
• inthemag
• third eye
• Wellbeing